Magic Tricks
by P. Winfrey
Summary: When a knight tries to be a magician, things are bound to happen. And what do you know? Lelouch isn't complaining. AU SuzaLulu with a bit of sidestory explaining inside.
1. Heal!

Chapter 1: Magic Tricks

* * *

Lelouch walked through the empty labyrinth that can only be known as his castle. It should be nothing much to a normal person from the outside, but here at his domain, a prince walking alone was like a prince walking naked.

A crude simile, yes, but there was no better way to describe it. He was never—and should never be—alone.

'_That idiot is lucky father doesn't live with_ me _of all his children_.' Lelouch thought, reminiscing of the time when Charles zi Britannia had caught Euphemia alone and found out that her knight, the almighty pain-in-the-Britannian-ass Gino Weinberg, had strutted off to buy some candy.

Of course, Euphemia's pleas to her father were ricocheted right off, and Gino was demoted from being her special knight to a mere guard at her palace, and Anya had taken his place—leaving Nunally to her caretaker, Sayoko.

"I swear," Lelouch muttered under his breath, turning the corner to Suzaku's room's hallway, "If he doesn't show up _one more time_—"

"Argh! Shit! Oof! Ow!" _BAM_!

His amethyst eyes widened in realization. He ran for the door that read "Kururugi" and burst it open.

"Suzaku, what the _hell _are you doing?"

There, sprawled face down on the floor, was his knight—chocolate curls and firm backside and all—Suzaku Kururugi, hands over his head in an apparent attempt to protect himself from whatever idiotic catastrophe he was trying.

His eyes opened, revealing shocked and embarrassed emerald orbs, "Your highness!" Suzaku scrambled up and dusted off what must be soot off of his white uniform and bowed, "Forgive me, I was testing something out."

Lelouch raised a brow, "Are you sure you weren't attempting suicide? Am I _that _much of a pain?" He teased lightly.

Suzaku chuckled as he bent over to pick up the items on the floor, "No, your highness, I'm pretty sure suicide is the last thing on my mind right now."

'_Is that so, Suzaku?_'

The prince looked at the items: a lighter, a strip of cotton, a needle and thread, and... was that Ronsonol?

"Let me repeat my first question, what the hell were you doing?" Lelouch asked as Suzaku went off to dispose of the items. He noticed the way Suzaku's hand moved, "And what's wrong with your hand?"

The Japanese boy walked over to his first-aid kit and sat on his bed, "I was trying to do this magic trick called the 'Handheld Fireball'. I burned my fingers." He then proceeded to clumsily apply burn ointment.

'_Idiot._' Lelouch thought, half-exasperated, half-amused. "Suzaku, wait." He said as he walked into the bathroom (which Suzaku always liked to keep clean, thank goodness) and came out with a cool damp towel.

The raven sat next to him, not noticing how Suzaku eyes widened in confusion, as he applied cold compress against the burn.

Suzaku, unable to hold the impulse, moaned in relief.

And, mind you reader, a single closet-gay teenage Britannian prince who is constantly accompanied by his knight could think of more instances where that moan of pleasure could resurface.

Lelouch tried hard to keep a straight face—to keep the blush from surfacing on his pale cheeks—as he continued to tend to Suzaku's burns. He smiled inwardly as he compared hands with the Japanese boy.

Tan against alabaster, calloused against smooth, warm against cold, soldier's against prince's.

"Sire, I could have done it—I _did _do it." Suzaku corrected himself, "But thank you."

The prince opened a nearby compartment and fixed a clean new white glove on the hand. Lelough looked up at Suzaku, "You didn't do it properly. And you're welcome. Try to learn the magic trick 'Heal' once in a while." He teased as he stood up and walked out, "Now accompany me like you're supposed to."

Unbeknownst to the prince, the knight smiled and held up his newly gloved hand to his lips, inhaling and tasting Lelouch's sweet scent.

Suzaku followed suit after _his _prince.

"Yes, your highness."

* * *

End Chapter 1

**A/N: **Sorry. I needed to emphasize Suzaku's backside. It's just so prominent in the anime. Wouldn't you agree? :)

**R&R**


	2. Voila!

**Chapter 2: Voila**

* * *

Suzaku enjoyed the time spent with Lelouch.

Oh, yes, he enjoyed many things about the prince.

For example, Suzaku enjoyed the fact that when Lelouch grew bored of being in the grand confinement of the palace or when Nunnally was busy, he would constantly stroll around the garden.

Suzaku liked the garden, too. The smell of the flowers that flooded the vast expanse—be it local, imported, or exotic flowers—reminded him of Japan. _His_ Japan.

But when Suzaku remembered Japan as Japan, he remembered Lelouch. To Suzaku, to speak of the memories regarding one was to speak of the memories regarding the other. They were one and the same to Suzaku. Life had been so much more frivolous when Lelouch and Nunnally first visited Japan for a summer vacation, it seemed as if he had a new life ahead of him—as if from that point onwards, it was top priority to become Lelouch's knight.

When Lelouch came over that one summer, the Britannian prince had already possessed a strange inclination to the beauties of nature. He was particularly fond of the cherry blossoms, and was ecstatic to hear they bloomed abundantly in the summer.

Perhaps it was because of this that the prince had requested for _sakura_ trees to be planted in the garden quite recently. And perhaps it was because they were finally in full bloom that Lelouch had chosen this particular moment to escape the castle.

As Lelouch walked ahead of Suzaku, the knight admired the sight of a stray _sakura_ falling gently on the ebony hair, sticking out like a sore thumb. The prince had not noticed apparently, so Suzaku walked forward and plucked the flower from Lelouch's hair.

"Thank you, Suzaku," Lelouch said, looking up at the trees, "You call these _sakura_ in Japan, am I correct?

"Yes, your highness." Suzaku replied, inwardly smiling at remembering the fact that Lelouch refuses to say _Area 11_.

Long pale fingers reach up to catch a falling blossom, "And you have festivals solely for these?"

Suzaku confirmed once again, "Though, the best time to view them doesn't last very long, your highness. It would probably last a little less than a week."

"Not very long?" Lelouch chuckled, "Suzaku, you must be aging a lot faster than I. Even just a mere hour at a festival like that would be enough for a lifetime."

"An hour?" Suzaku marveled, "Really, your highness?"

"Well, no. Probably an hour and a half."

They laughed, and the sound was delight to both their ears.

Another thing Suzaku enjoys is the way Lelouch teases him. He feels as if the boundary of prince-and-knight has subsided into a sort of friendship.

Lelouch sat at the base of the trunk, leaning into one of its deep curves, and asking Suzaku to do the same.

"Sir?" Suzaku raised a quizzical brow.

"I just want to relax out here. You should, too."

Suzaku agreed and sat against the curve beside Lelouch's, and watched from the corner of his eyes as Lelouch's eyes drooped shut.

Now the knight could think properly.

The Japanese boy wasn't exactly the smartest person around, but he understood the deeper things. For example, he understood that he and Lelouch need each other. Strange as it seems, Lelouch doesn't belong here. Just like Suzaku, he's Britannian only by name: Lelouch from the actual family surname and bloodline, and Suzaku being an Honorary Britannian and Knight to one of the royals.

Lelouch didn't enjoy his family, save the crippled Nunnally—but once in a while even _she_ could show the terrifying traits she inherited from their father. No, Lelouch wouldn't call himself Britannian if he could, and Suzaku knew that.

Correction: Suzaku knew that, he knew why, and he agreed with it fully.

He also knew that it because he knows that much, Lelouch knows they share that common connection and has no intention of hiding it.

"Suzaku," Lelouch called.

"Yes, your highness?"

Even in the shade, Lelouch's deep amethyst eyes were bright as they emerged from the closed eyelids and the prince half-smiled, "Show me a magic trick that _won't_ involve us burning to death."

He returned the smile with a laugh, "Of course, your highness."

Suzaku stood up and sat in front of Lelouch. He took out his handkerchief, hung it from his arm and held it up to cover his face.

"And, voila!" Suzaku dropped the handkerchief and revealed a red rose in his hand. He held it out to his prince.

"For you, your highness. Was it satisfactory?"

"No," Lelouch said seriously, then laughed at the knight's flabbergasted expression, "It was horrible." He took the rose from the knight's hand and sniffed it, "I think you should make it disappear if you really want me to be pleased."

"D-Disappear?" Suzaku said, bewilderment evident in the emerald orbs.

"You don't know how then?" Lelouch asked, holding up the rose, "Shame."

The Japanese boy's eyes widened even further as Lelouch picked up the handkerchief, dropped it over the rose, and watched the handkerchief fall softly to where the base of the rose stem should have been and then continue its descent to the ground, revealing that the rose did indeed disappear.

"I wonder where the rose went, Suzaku...?"

A pale hand reached into the brown curls, ruffled them a bit (which caused the knight to flinch and blush, mind you), and pulled back with a coin between the long fingers.

"Oh, dear," Lelouch said in mock surprise as he looked at the coin, "That's not it."

Suzaku laughed. '_Since when has he learned how to be humorous?_'

"Oh, that's right!" the prince exclaimed in false recap, and he lifted the handkerchief that fell on the ground to reveal the same red rose lying innocently underneath, "Here it is."

"Wow, Lelou—I mean, your highness." Suzaku corrected himself, "That was amazing."

"I know." He replied, a smirk plastered on his face.

Lelouch diverted his attention to the cherry blossoms (with extreme difficulty since Suzaku was right in front of him).

"Sire," Suzaku called, "Would you like me to fetch a cold beverage? It's awfully hot out here."

"You're right. It's hot. Get some iced tea for the both of us. And a fan, please. I need a fan." Lelouch added in a very feminine valley-girl tone.

"Complete with the valley accent!" Suzaku laughed, feigning congratulations, "A very nice touch if I may say so myself, your majesty."

Lelouch frowned, "Iced tea and fan, Suzaku." He ordered.

"Yes, your highness." The knight replied, standing up and leaving.

Lelouch occupied himself in watching Suzaku's gait, noticing the ever-so-slight swaying of his hips.

'_Oh, stop it, Lelouch_,' the prince chuckled to himself, '_I guess I really need to give that guy a break. Who knows how traumatized he must be ever since I appointed him as my knight_?'

Lelouch recalls of when he first met Suzaku, and how he narrated to the Japanese boy of his world—his Britannian world—in comparison to the simple life Suzaku lived even with his high position as the prime minister's son.

He also recalls of the time when he had turned 17, and he had finally been involved in politics—also known as his family business. It was also when he had been forced to choose his knight.

* * *

_Lelouch sat on the floor of his bedroom, about a hundred or so opened folders scattered and surrounding him on the floor, countless names of Britannians and Honorary Britannians handpicked to be chosen as his knight._

"_Jeremiah," he called, and his caretaker, Jeremiah Gottwald, strode into the room._

"_Yes, your highness?"_

"_Do I _really_ need a knight?" he complained._

_Jeremiah laughed, "Of course, sire. I can only do so much as your caretaker."_

"_What about Nunnally and Sayoko?"_

"_Your majesty, even _you_ know Lady Nunnally will most probably never need a knight, considering her condition, so Anya's service weren't exactly needed in the first place."_

_Lelouch huffed a stray strand of hair from his face, "Euphy can't do politics in her place, even father knows that. The next thing you know, she'd would want to sign an agreement to buying the Chinese Federation 'for the better good'. If Nunnally was in better condition, she might have been a better politician."_

_Jeremiah looked around at the folders and sighed, "But she isn't better, your highness. Would you like some help looking through these?"_

_The prince shook his head picking up a folder with the number 11 on the top, "I'm almost done, just a few more to—" He flipped to the first page to see a familiar face; tan, baby-faced, green eyed, with curly brown hair, and a childish smile, "Jeremiah, I'll be finished soon. Do you mind sending these to mother once I've chosen?"_

"_Of course, your highness," and with that, Jeremiah walked out of the room and closed the door behind him._

"_The only one with a smiling picture." A dry laugh escaped the lips, "He took my word seriously. Well then, let's see how well Suzaku's fared since that summer." Lelouch smiled and read._

**Suzaku Kururugi**

**Age: 17 (Born July 10, 2000 a.t.b.)**

**Origin: Area 11**

**Status: Honorary Britannian (7 years); Knight of Seven (3 months)**

**Knightmare Frames Piloted: Lancelot, Lancelot Conquista, Lancelot Albion.**

**Additional Information: Son of Genbu Kururugi, former Prime Minister of Area 11; Cousin of Kaguya Sumeragi, future Headmistress of the Kyoto House; Known for exceptional piloting skills as well as physical capabilities.**

_The rest of the things in the envelope were graphs about stats taken from the screening. Results from the written test were barely mediocre, but Suzaku made up for it in the physical examination with perfect statistics._

_Lelouch quickly scanned through the other folders, noting that though almost all of them did better than Suzaku in the written test, none of them had physical stats as high as the Japanese boy._

"_Jeremiah!" Lelouch called, just a bit too happily, "I'm done!"_

* * *

_Now Lelouch paced towards the great entrance hall. His mother, Marianne, had taken Nunnally out to the lake for a mother-daughter bonding. Jeremiah and Sayoko were picking up his new knight._

_And, just for a moment, Lelouch had to stop a giggle from escaping his lips._

'_God, Lelouch,' he told himself, 'Don't get too excited, you might just have a cardiac arrest.'_

_He stopped in front of the door that lead to the great hall and heard the doors open, he swung the door open._

"_Jeremiah? Sayoko? Who's there?" Lelouch asked, even if he knew the answer._

_He descended the grand stairs, feigning confusion, as Suzaku Kururugi stood right in front of him, clad in the white and gold Britannian dress robes that only knights would wear._

"_Suzaku Kururugi, your highness," The Japanese boy said respectfully, though the glint in his bright green eyes showed friendly recognition._

_Lelouch smiled politely, "Oh, yes. That's right. My newly appointed knight. Welcome. Ah, Jeremiah, Sayoko," he called to the two behind, "Please ask the maids to bring Kururugi's luggage to his quarters. I have a few things I want to discuss with my knight. And please have some tea brought to my office. Thank you."_

_When the two left, Suzaku followed him to the prince's office._

"_I can't believe you actually did it, you idiot." Lelouch said with a disbelieving laugh, motioning Suzaku to one of the lush armchairs and sat on the one across him._

_Suzaku raised a brow, yet he smiled, "Did what, your highness?"_

_Lelouch chuckled back, "You know what. You became my knight like I told you so."_

"_Surely, sire, I would have thought you'd forgotten all about me after all these years and this was mere coincidence." He gave a coy smile._

_The prince shook his head, "Of course not. On the contrary, I would have thought you took my advice like a joke."_

"_No, your majesty, I assure you that I deemed your advice as an option rather than a joke."_

"_Good. Well, I hope you understand what being my knight means," Lelouch thanked the maid when she brought in the tea, and continued when she left, "You'll constantly be in the face of danger."_

"_With all due respect, sire, I was one of the Knights of Round."_

"_Yes, I know that, idiot." Lelouch laughed, "Aside from danger, you're going to have to accompany me wherever the hell I go. Are you sure you'd want that?"_

_Suzaku shrugged and took a sip of his tea, "You told me that being your knight was going to be fun, so I simply took your word for it, your highness."_

"_Do you trust me?"_

"_Of course, your majesty."_

"_Good. Now let's go. I'm sure Nunnally would be happy to see you."_

* * *

"Here you go, your highness," Suzaku said with a smile, setting down the glasses of iced tea as well as a little box with both the prince's and the knight's names written on a paper stuck to it, "And Lady Nunnally baked us cupcakes as well."

Lelouch untied the ribbon of the box and opened them to reveal two large cupcakes topped with creamy white frosting. Both he and Suzaku took out one and proceeded to divulging into the treat.

"Ooh!" Suzaku exclaimed, "Rainbow!"

Lelouch looked up at the sky, "What?"

"The cupcake, your highness." Suzaku laughed at Lelouch's sillyness.

Lelouch raised a brow and looked at the side of his cupcake. They were indeed rainbow colored. Colors of pink, blue, yellow, green, and purple swirled to form the treat. The frosting was soft, with a tangy taste.

"I wonder what the frosting's made of. It's really quite good." Suzaku said when he took an experimental lick at it.

"Cream cheese. All purpose cream. Lots of sugar." Lelouch grimaced, "Really, that girl's bound to get diabetes one day."

Why Lelouch chose to look at Suzaku when he said this, no one knows, but it was definitely not one of the times when he should have.

Apparently, Lelouch learned that Suzaku likes to eat his cupcakes differently—taking (or rather, biting with his lips rather than teeth) the cream right off the cupcake and licking up the remaining icing clean, leaving his mouth splattered with the thick white substance, _then_ proceeding to eat the cupcake base.

Oh, did Lelouch forget to mention the knight licking the icing from his lips and tanned cheeks? No? Well, now you know.

Suzaku took a bite off of the cupcake when he noticed his prince staring wide-eyed at him, the cupcake still whole and hovering an inch away from Lelouch's open mouth.

Tempting invitation for a kiss? Maybe not yet. Not with this tension barrier.

Tempting enough to fool around? Definitely.

Taking advantage of Lelouch's bewilderment at his eating habits, Suzaku quickly reached his hand out and gave the prince's cupcake a little push forward with his finger—he watched with amusement as the icing made marks along Lelouch's nose and mouth.

"What the hell, Suzaku!" Lelouch exclaimed, "That was uncalled for!"

Suzaku burst into a fit of laughter and set his cupcake down, "Sorry, your highness! Your mouth was wide open! And it was tempting!" When the knight calmed down and saw Lelouch's pout, he fell onto his back in laughter again, "And you look cute like that!"

"Mouth wide open? Tempting? Cute?" Lelouch recounted, "Just like how you are right now, Kururugi?"

The laughing stopped, and confusion took over, "Your majesty? What are you talking about—"

Everything stopped when Lelouch pinned Suzaku's wrist down.

"Here's a magic trick I like to call 'Shut the idiot up'."

"Forgive me, your highness," Suzaku smiled, "But that was a very lame insult."

Then Lelouch pressed his lips against the knight's.

A moan escaped both of them. Suzaku was able to kiss a few times before Lelouch pulled away, leaving icing smothered on the knight's mouth.

"Look, we match now." Lelouch said, taking an experimental lick at a drop of icing near Suzaku's lip. He smiled triumphantly when Suzaku's face flushed. Lelouch enjoyed watching the tanned cheeks take on an interesting hue.

To the raven's surprise, Suzaku reached into the ebony hair and pulled out a rose.

"Voila!" The Japanese boy laughed.

Lelouch got off him and drank his iced tea, "Anticlimactic. Again, you're an idiot."

Suzaku gave a knowing smile, standing up as well, "But you love me, your highness."

When Lelouch rolled his eyes and headed back in the castle, Suzaku followed.

If there's one thing Suzaku loves more than anything else, that would be Lelouch.

"Yeah, as a matter of fact, Kururugi, I do."

**The End**

* * *

**A/N: **Voila! The two-shot ends here! Thanks to the anonymous first review for wanting another chapter!

I'm sorry, I really didn't think about making a second chapter, so forgive me if this chapter seems a little out of it.


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